Music Box
by Celena Schezar
Summary: Its bed time for the young twins but Dante doesn't want to sleep. A gentle song, one horrible dream, and a soothing melody come together for a sweet memory. (One Shot)


**Music Box**  
Disclaimer: Apparently I really like this song, Seeds of Love. Yes, I'm using it again. And I still don't own it or the game and characters of DMC. I'm only doing this for fun people, no money involved. So don't bother suing, alright?  
Note: Suddenly my stories are very dark and depressing sounding. Geez, there's something wrong with me. This one also wasn't supposed to be that way either, but it ended up doing the same thing. I've also noticed that both of them foreshadow the future of the twins' separation. Whether I did that on purpose or not... I'm not really sure. >. 

"Vergil, Dante. Time for bed." A sweet, melodic voice rang out.

"Ok, Mom." The older of the two silver haired twins answered for the both of them. Vergil saw it coming before it even started. "Dante, don't." He warned his brother. But it was too late. Dante rushed out of the room exclaiming that he didn't want to go to bed yet.

Vergil followed more slowly, hearing his mother give a soft sigh that he wasn't supposed to hear. He knew what he would see when he walked into the room; her face would have that gentle smile on as she patiently tried to woo Dante into giving up. But her eyes betrayed the exhaustion of trying so very hard to be a good mother with two unruly children running around the house, the patience wearing thin from trying to placate one especially.

Only just turned six, Vergil watched as his younger twin ran circles around his mother with a melancholic look. Even though they were the same age Vergil already viewed the world in a different manner than his brother did. He hated it when Dante did this. When he made Mother have to spend extra enduring moments to calm him down. Yes, during the day sometimes he was just as playful and rowdy as Dante but now was not the time. It was getting late and they should have been in bed twenty minutes ago but that Mother had given them extra time already. He frowned at his brother.

"Dante, quit it." Vergil warned. Dante stopped running around but only to replace it with another childish act. He turned towards his brother and promptly stuck his tongue out at him. Vergil huffed and looked up at his mother apologetically, as if sorry for his twin's behavior.

Eva smiled down on her calmer son, eyes shining with her love. Then she turned to Dante and shook a finger at him while scolding him. "Don't do that to your brother. What if one day you need help from him and he remembers all your silly little follies? What then Dante?"

Dante looked up his mother with a comical frown. "Why should I ever need Vergil's help?"

Eva hid a smile from her sons at the sight of Dante's face. She wondered how the twins could ever be any cuter. With complete adoration in her eyes, Eva patted Dante on the back, shooing him in the direction of the stairs. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you. Now up to bed."

Dante gave one more pout and even stomped his foot, but it was halfheartedly. His eyes began to droop and he suddenly felt sleepy. With Eva's further prodding he finally managed to drag his feet after his older brother.

Upstairs the twins took turns at the sink brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed. When they finally crawled underneath their blankets, Dante called out to their mother. "Mom! We're ready."

Vergil glanced at his twin. He saw the childish grin and innocent look that made his brother so much more outspoken than himself. Dante even still had the energy to bounce in his seat while waiting for their mother to come and tuck them in. Vergil had grown out of this need, but since Dante seemed to still need the comfort he smiled graciously and let his mother pull the covers up around him when she came over to his bed after his brother.

As their mother began to walk out the door, Dante softly called out to her. "You can't leave without singing."

Dante would stay up all night if he didn't hear the words, the beautiful calming words of their mother's sweet melody. Vergil wondered why Dante cherished the song so much, but he eagerly waited for her soothing words too.

Eva stopped in the doorway and turned back to the boys with a loving smile. Her voice like the sound of gently chiming bells, Eva sung her song to the joys of her life. The melody was soft and lulling, full of sweet dreams and gentle wishes in the shadowy room.

_In the field so green and so clean,  
Seeds gaze up.  
The cloud keeps them from the light,  
And the sky cries white tears of snow.  
But still, fragile seeds wait upon the sun to shine,  
Dark winter away come spring.  
And the seeds once again will look up to the sky.  
And I know they will grow strong._

By the end of the song, both Vergil and Dante had fallen asleep. Carefully slipping up next to each of them she gave them both a kiss on the forehead. Then she headed back to the door, stopping briefly to gaze back at them one last time. Bestowing a final smile upon them she turned and left, closing the door slowly so as to be quiet. Then she welcomingly headed for her own bed.

There was a grassy field, stretching far and wide so that the eye could make no end of it. Patches of brightly colored flowers hovered around all over the field creating a wonderful paintbrush technique effect. The sky above shined with brilliance, a clear blue with no clouds to obscure it. The sun dazzled the eye and a light breeze ruffled the plants below.

A blue eyed boy watched excitedly as the picture spread out before him everywhere he looked. Then, in the horizon, he saw someone. At first he couldn't recognize the figure, but as he floated closer to the dark shadow he began to notice familiar features. When he finally stopped just in front of the dark figure he let out a gasp of surprise. It was him!

No, wait. It wasn't him, it was his twin. As he looked more closely at the shadow he began to realize that the identical features were worn in the different manner that Vergil bore himself. Dante continued to watch and was about to call to his twin, who didn't seem to see him even though he was facing Dante, when Vergil's eyes started to glow red. Startled, Dante shrunk back from his older brother. It was then that the significance of the shadow struck Dante. For when Dante looked down at the ground he gaped at the sight he saw.

Descending out from Dante's twin were dark waves of shadow slowly engulfing the entire field. The wind began to howl and whip about at an alarming rate. Dante stared as black clouds began to roll out into the sky, covering the sun and destroying the bright blue canvas of tranquility. Below his feet the grass and beautiful flowers began to wither and crumble into dust, leaving the land as a dry, gray desert spreading desolately out in all directions.

That's when Dante began to cry out for his mother. He ran, trying to escape those chilling red eyes that glared at him with so much malice that he wished he could just wilt away like the flowers. But no matter how far he went, no matter how loud he called for his mother, the eyes never left his side and his mother never came to his side.

Defeated, Dante turned to face the glowing eyes. He silently pleaded for them to leave him alone, to close in slumber, to stop glaring at him with such hate. Anything! But they didn't obey and Dante didn't know what else to do. Crumbling to the cold, hard ground he began to cry. Finally the dark figure did something. Kneeling down beside Dante, Vergil softly whispered words into his twin's ear. "Devils never cry."

Dante's head snapped up and he stared into the evil red eyes. They told him a dark story, one so bleak that in the end Dante couldn't quite ever recall the entirety of it. It only made him sink further into the ground, its tale was so wretched. He cried one repeating word in his misery. "Why?"

Some time in the middle of the night Vergil woke up to softly mewing cries. He thought he caught one word from the strangled voice. He crawled out of bed and knelt near his brother's side. Shaking him lightly, Vergil tried to wake his dreaming twin. With a start Dante woke wide-eyed from his terrifying nightmare. He glanced around like a frightened animal and when he focused on his brother's face he cringed away. Vergil frowned at this and reached out to touch Dante.

Dante flinched away at first but seeing the calm blue eyes peering at him curiously he slowly settled down and let Vergil hold his arm. In the end, Dante clung weakly to his brother in an attempt to wash away the image of the glowing red eyes. Vergil soothingly wrapped his arms around his younger brother. Then suddenly remembering something, Vergil pried away his brother's hold so he could reach into the nightstand next to the separated beds and pull out a small trinket.

Holding it in one hand and wrapping the other arm around Dante, he held the small box so that he could wind up the mechanism using both hands. When it was ready to start, Vergil held it out in front of Dante's eyes and allowed the pin to turn. Small chiming sounds began to play a familiar tune and almost instantly Vergil felt Dante relax. As Dante stared unseeing at the music box, he silently started to mouth the words his mother had sung hours ago.

The song placating his strung twin, Vergil carefully set the box down on the middle of the stand. Slowly he disengaged himself from his brother's grasp and forced Dante to lay back down in his bed. Vergil tucked Dante in just like Mother always did and then crept over to his own bed. Jumping, Vergil turned around at the sound of his brother crying at. He looked wildly around until his ears registered that the music box had stopped playing its melody. Quickly Vergil wound the toy up again and watched his twin's anxious face smooth into peace again. He then slipped into bed and watched from his covers to make sure Dante went to sleep.

As Dante did finally fall asleep again he went back into a dream. But this time the rolling field and clear sky didn't fade away. Instead of a dark shadow this time he saw his father and mother in the distance, carefully watching over their playing sons. The only disturbance this time was when he and Vergil began to soar into the bright blue sky that matched their wide eyes.


End file.
